By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS Staff Journalist The editor of an international news agency says that while the major media reports on individual incidents of violence against Christians, it ignores the larger picture which reveals a “silent holocaust of Christian martyrs” that is taking place around the world today. In an article appearing on the Renew America website, Toby Westerman, editor and publisher of International News Analysis Today, says the media, United Nations and most national governments ignore the rising tide of violence being directed at Christians by fundamentalist Islamists and Communist-controlled governments. “Despite ideological differences, Islamic militants and Communist ideologues share a characteristic hostility to Christianity,” Westerman writes. “Muslim fundamentalists cannot abide any worship of God but their own, and the various brands of Communists, reformed and otherwise, recognize the threat posed by Christians who profess God as the center of their lives, not a totalitarian police state.” Westerman cites the mayhem taking place in Malaysia at the present time where a dispute over the use of the term “Allah” by a Catholic newspaper has resulted in the widespread burning of Catholic churches by Muslim fundamentalists. “In Egypt, allegations that a Christian man raped a Muslim woman resulted in the murder of seven Coptic Christians and an attempt to kill the area's Coptic bishop,” Westerman writes. The Egyptian government also actively assists in spreading anti-Christian propaganda, he says, and cites a recently released "scientific report" issued by a state-owned corporation that described Christianity as "idolatry" and "a religion of polytheism." Women of the Coptic community are still the targets of rape, abduction, forced marriage to Muslim men and forced conversion to Islam. “This is a pattern of brutality toward Christian women which began shortly after the seventh century Muslim conquests and has continued to this day,” he writes. In Saudi Arabia, where no Christian churches are allowed, the country's “religious police” forbid any non-Muslim religious activity, even private Bible reading and praying. In Iraq, attacks on the faithful have decimated the Christian population, driving more than 500,000 out of the country with those remaining living – and worshiping – in fear for their lives. Dozens of Catholic parishioners, priests and even bishops have been murdered in that country within the last few years. Religious extremists aren’t the only mortal enemies of Christianity. “Politically inspired oppression of Christians remains a constant feature of the Communist world, despite the ‘reforms’ reported in the centralized media following the collapse of the Soviet Union,” Westerman writes. “The most significant crime of Christians is that they deny the right of the state to dominate all aspects of human life." He goes on to describe how the Vietnamese Communist bosses ordered about 1,000 police to assist in the destruction of a large, century-old crucifix in a cemetery. Some of the faithful protested and were beaten, two were taken to a hospital where they were initially denied treatment. Persecution of Christians in that nation has been constant and deadly, such as the 2004 Easter massacre when police forces attacked a procession of native Montagnard Christians, killing nearly 300.     In China, where only state-recognized religious worship is allowed, Catholic laity and clergy live under the constant threat of arrest, prolonged interrogation, imprisonment and death. “In the neo-Marxist state of Venezuela, virtual dictator Hugo Chavez has lashed out at Church criticism of his Communist regime and proclaimed the Catholic Church a ‘tumor’ in Venezuelan society,” Westerman writes. “Chavez has also described the Catholic clergy as ‘mental retards.’” Catholic bishops are facing similar struggles in Ecuador and Bolivia where Chavez clones are attempting to substitute faith for Communist Party doctrine, or to undermine Christian faith with appeals to "traditional" — pre-Colombian — religions whose leaders cooperate with the Marxist government, he writes. ”It must be added that, while fundamentalist Muslims and Communists have been responsible for the great majority of present-day Christian martyrs, Hindu fanatics have also inflicted serious and ongoing suffering on Christians in India, attacking clergy, nuns, the faithful, and churches.” He concludes: “It is time for the U.S. mass media to acknowledge the persecution of Christians around the world, and to identify those who commit these crimes. We must recognize that the persecution of vulnerable Christian populations by militant Islamists and Communists is a herald of things to come for the remainder of humanity.” © All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace®  http://www.womenofgrace.com